Sunday, December 21, 2014

December 21 - Chip Young Died

According to a post by Eddie Pennington, Chip Young died last night. From his Facebook post:

"He played on so many hit records that there is no way facebook would hold all of it. He came to Nashville with Jerry Reed, and was close to him until Jerry passed. He recorded with Elvis from 1965 until he passed away. He played the guitar part on Dolly Parton's Joline. He did the thumbpicking on Vern Gosdin's Way Down Deep Inside My Soul. He produced many records and Billy Swan's I Can Help was one of Chip's."

Another one of the greats gone. R.I.P. Chip.

In the picture from the recording-sessions at RCA’s Studio B, Nashville Tennessee, June 1970 Chips Young is sitting below, second from the left.

Starting in May 1966, his first session playing for Elvis was of all things - the Grammy-winning How Great Thou Art LP. Then Chip worked on these June 1966 cuts: Indescribably Blue, I'll Remember You, If Everyday Was Like Christmas. He didn't play on a movie soundtrack until Clambake in February 1967. In March 1967, he played on Suppose. The forementioned sessions list Scotty Moore above Chip - but for the Speedway session in June 1967, Scotty wasn't there and Chip is listed at the top.

Chip played on the Sept. 67 Guitar Man session and the Stay Away Joe / Too Much Monkey Business session in January 1968. Ernst book states it was probably Chip who suggested that Elvis do Hi-Heel Sneakers which became a single B-Side. He didn't work with Elvis for a couple years after that because the 68 NBC show and the Memphis album and 69-70 Vegas engagements didn't require Chip's talents.

Chip did go back in the studio with Elvis in June 1970 to work on the now-historic Nashville Marathon sessions. He also did the Sept. 70 session which yielded Snowbird and Rags To Riches. Playing on classics such as Early Morning Rain and I'm leavin' Chip's work is on Elvis Country and Elvis Now and his last session with Elvis was for the Grammy-winning He Touched Me.


(Source: FECC / Gretch Page / ElvisMatters)